Page 123 of Stolen Hearts

“Washing your hair. Sit still.”

I grin. There’s something both comical and sexy about his bossy way. On the one hand, yeah, maybe it’s a little silly that I’m a grown adult and he’s ordering me into the tub and washing my hair. But on the other hand?

Super fucking hot. And there’s something very relaxing about just letting go and letting him take over.

When my hair is wet enough, he shampoos it, his strong fingers massaging my scalp as I exhale and let go of any residual tension. He rinses the shampoo from my hair and then conditions it, running his fingers down the long strands.

“How are you so good at this?”

The second I say it, I almost don’t want to know the answer. But then, me being me, I barge ahead anyway.

“Did you do this for Neve and Eilish?”

It’s always been there, even when I try to tell myself it’s not: this weird sort of jealousy of their history with Castle.

Obviously, it was never a romantic thing. But try telling that to my weird Crazytown brain. It doesn’t matter that they were basically family to him. It’s not that I’m jealous of any feelings there. I’m jealous that theyhad him. They had all these years with Castle, and all these memories, while I was just pining for him from a distance.

Castle stops for a second behind me. “What?”

“Neve and Eilish. Did you ever wash their—”

“Ugh,no,” he blanches. And when I turn to glance at him, I grin when I see the ick look on his face. “Jesus, they were fourteen and eleven when I started working for the Kildare family. That would be fucking weird and gross on a hundred different levels.”

“Well, you’re always saying they’re like sisters to you.”

“They are,” he smirks at me. “Tell me, did you do a lot of washing Ares’ or Hades’ hair when you were kids?”

I make a puke face. “Okay, valid.”

He goes back to conditioning my hair before reaching for the cup off to the side and rinsing it out.

“I used to wash Kelly’s hair when she was little.”

The sudden break in the silence startles me. I half-turn to look at him again.

“My little sister,” he grunts quietly. “Like, my real one.”

I smile. “I didn’t even know you had a sister.”

He says nothing as he pours water down the back of my hair.

“Where does she live now—”

“All done,” he announces abruptly. And by his tone, it’s clear the conversation is over. My curiosity is seriously piqued, but I let it go.

Well…for now, at least.

“Stand up.”

I bite my lip. “Why?”

“Because I said so.”

I blush. “You’re seriously bossy, you know that?.”

“Well, now you see why I never got married.”

I grin. Slowly, my face burning even though he’s already seen me naked on more than a few occasions, I stand. Castle uses a loofah to start gently scrubbing my back and my arms.

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